Long time no manga post everyone! I’ve come to finally, FINALLY bring out a manga post after having not written one in a year! In my absence though, Anaaga and Hawthrone have both graced Meta with their own awesome manga recommendations that are still definitely worth checking out. Originally I wanted to post a manga digest back in January to celebrate the new year, making it even more special by deciding to include 12 mangas instead of the usual 5. However, my daring ambition to find 12 worthy manga to write about, while at the same time starting a new semester in college, ended up being too much. I had to leave this poor post on the back burner for months until summer break, which is already on a roll for me.

Anyway, with 12 mangas to feature, I decided to dabble in different genres from fluffly yuri to sci-fi to some pretty, dark psychological stuff (I’m even including NSFW manga for the first time!). As Korean web-comics becoming abundant from the last time I wrote about Korean manhwa, I also added a few of this interesting format to comics, which read ‘up and down’ and include unique art along with interesting, unique stories that just don’t fit to the typical comic format. With that, let’s get onto to this manga digest for 2012~!

Comic Hoshi Shinichi | Story: Hoshi Shinichi / Artist(s): Various

Summary: Omnibus of short stories from famous science fiction author Hoshi Shin’ichi.

I’ll admit the ‘Hoshi’ in it is what grabbed my attention when scrolling through Mangareader (apparently I really like my nickname). The summary though had me staying as I like having no idea what to expect from a collection of short stories (one-shots) essentially). The stories certainly did turn out to be unpredictable and downright odd at times, as you can image from a science fiction writer. They sort of reminded me of Ray Bradbury’s short stories (if you’ve ever heard of him; pardon the English geek in me), but just a tad bit more…weird. All of them were really interesting with though-provoking themes in some, as well as some pretty twist endings. It’s hard for me to write anymore without spoiling some of the stories, so I’ll leave it up to you guys to trust me that this is a very enjoyable collection of short-stories.~

Don’t Cry Girl | Artist: Yamashita Tomoko

Genre(s): Comedy, Romance, School Life, Shoujo

Status: Complete

Volumes: 1

Year: 2008

Summary: Taeko’s mother and dad are childish. So for the mean time she decideds to freeload at her dads friend’s house. She knocks on the door to his place and he greets her…nude. This manga follows Taeko’s daily life from now on as she struggles with a nudist room mate, school and life. Will she find love in the mix?

There are only five chapters out so far, but I couldn’t resist adding this manga into the post. Don’t Cry Girlhonestly had me laughing out loud from the first few pages of the first chapter! The premise already sounds weird, but Taeko’s over-exaggerated reactions and Masuda’s blunt…nakedness make it so much more strange and hilarious. All three main characters are just weird, but it’s what makes this manga fun. I feel though that there isn’t much…substance to this manga, which is why I almost scrapped it from the post. It feels very empty to me, but that may just be the simple art, haha! In the end, it really is an entertaining, hilarious story, and I’m hoping a bit of romance gets added into the mix since it does have a ‘shoujo’ genre tag. All I know is that if any romance does happen, Taeko and Masuda are sure to be one strange couple.~

Helter Skelter | Artist: Kyoko Okazuki (NSFW)

Genre(s): Drama, Josei, Mature, Psychological

Status: Complete

Volumes: 1

Year: 2003

Summary: Through round after round of extensive plastic surgery and vigorous maintenance, Ririko has become the absolute manifestation of beauty, and becomes a wildly successful model, actress, and singer. However, soon, her body, unable to withstand the burdens of surgery, begins to crumble, and along with it so does her mind, as she plummets towards a frightening and inevitable end. Helter Skelter won the 2003 excellence prize at the Japanese Media Arts Festival, and the 2004 Osamu Tezuka Culture Prize.

This is actually due to be a movie featuring Erika Sawajiri in July, and after seeing the trailer, I was actually pretty curious to read the manga. Right away I’ll say that this is truly one unforgettable manga. All about society’s obsession with beauty (and becoming beautiful), fame, and greed, the overall story was quite twisted and grotesque, yet ironically beautiful. It left me with a very heavy feeling in my chest because of how dark it was, but after I let it soak in, I realized the inner beauty that came from this manga, especially towards the end as Ririko came to her own ending.

Ririko’s whole decent into madness was interesting, while saddening (and occasionally deeply disturbing), to watch as she brought down these innocent people along side her. However I felt that’s where the most beauty came from; seeing these events come winding down into one odd, spiraling ending. In a way, it seemed Ririko was trying to achieve some sort of immortality to show that her intense efforts to become famous weren’t for nothing. But most of the time, fame, along with beauty, decays over time. Anyway, because of an incident that happened to the author, the manga wasn’t technically completed so the ending is quite…confusing, at least to me. However I do like the mysterious way it ended, and a proper conclusion would probably take that essence away. All in all, Helter Skelter is one amazing, unforgettable manga, and I hope the upcoming film can live at least 90% up to that.~

My Heart is Beating | Artist: Ha Il Gwon

Summary: 17 year old exemplary student Bae Sugu lives alone with his father, the vice principal of his school. Weighed down by his father’s expectations, Sugu has to hide his one true passion: swimsuits. He does not know where it comes from, but his passion is pure and genuine – and often misunderstood. But one day, when Sugu is secretly taking pictures of swimsuits by the pool, he is caught by his homeroom teacher who forces him into something ridiculous. Can Sugu find something to get out of the standstill his life has come to? Can his heart beat again?

Time for the first of the Korean web-comics that will appear on this post, and this particular one has become a growing favorite of mine. I guess I can say it’s because I can connect to the main character in a number of way; living a stand-still life and trying to find something to get, well, the heart beating again. Anyway, the story may seem a bit slow and boring at times, but even then those chapters are still entertaining thanks to the art and formatting. There’s a hidden hook in the story that grabs onto you as you read it, and you can’t stop reading it. It’s just so well-written I can hardly describe it properly!

Chapter 5 and 6 are probably my favorite chapters because of, surprisingly, the panels. The author uses really intriguing panel format! He definitely uses the web-comic format to his advantage when emphasizing the water in certain scenes, and, in Chapter 6, showing the long trails of smoke from cigarettes. Overall the art is great and wonderfully colorful. It can get very captivating at times when coinciding with the the occasional, interesting panel format. As for the characters, they can look very crude at times, but it works! It adds on to their character, as well as the story’s comedy. It’s a very great read, and probably one of my highest recommended stories on this list aside from Helter Skelter~.

Noel | Artist: Asumiko Nakamura

Genre(s):Drama, Fantasy, RomanceStatus: CompleteVolumes: (none, one-shot)Year:(?)Summary: A short story about a holiday romance.

Anyone remember my manga post dedicated to the worsk of Asumiko Nakamura? At the time I wrote it she was on a hiatus, but after going through certain scantalation sites, I found that she had finally come back with new one-shots; this being one of them. For the sake of not spoiling it (especially since it’s a one-shot), I’ll just say I love her version of the making of a famous character. The story has a tiny tang of bitterness to it, but once it pans out, you find the sweetness and can’t help but think, “Awwwww!”. Nakamura’s art is gorgeous, as usual, and I’m happy to see she’s returned with her classic, lovely one-shots.~

Summary: This series, a joint projects between the rising star Nakamura Asumiko and renowned director of Shoujo Kakumei Utena Ikuhara Kunihiko, weaves a strange, surreal, and often dark comedy respendent with ruffles and lace. It is on the surface a farce about a young girl traveling with her lover, some sort of bear-type creature, but as to be expected of Ikuhara it’s multi-layered. The series is being endorsed by Baby the Stars Shine Bright, the leading name in Japanese lolita fashion, and the characters often wear clothes based off of those from the company.

I actually found this about a year ago when I began collecting KERA magazine (in which the series is serialized in), but I could never figure out the title! Anyway, this is probably one of the most stylish and awesome collaborations in the manga world with the stylish art of Asumiko Nakamura and the mysterious writings of Ikuhara (plus Baby, the Stars Shine Bright!) coming together. It honestly seems like a silly story, but once you get past just the first chapter, you already start to see these not-so innocent undertones, which seems a bit odd seeing as the characters are crazily dressed and drawn in outlandish, cute, fantasy world that greatly fits Nakamura’s one-shot story style. I’m already getting these frustrating, confusing vibes as I did with Mawaru Penguindrumwhere there’s all these clues to the underlying plot, but not so much to where I could make some theory of what’s going on exactly. This is going to be a looooong, confusing journey to unlock these secrets, but so far it’s been a fun one filled with odd comedy and even odder, unique characters. Those elements alone were enough for me to stay; the underlying, mysterious plot was in a way a bonus incentive for me to permanently follow this series. Not to mention it’s Asumiko Nakamura, my long-time manga artist love! How could I not?~

Nowhere Boy | Artist: Jung Pil Won

Genre(s):Action, Comedy, Fantasy, School Life

Status: On-going

Volumes: (none, webcomic)

Year: 2011

Summary: “Welcome to Survival, ‘I Am Unhappy,’ the exciting game show to find the world’s unhappiest person! The grand prize… is a wish granted by God!”
When the victor of the game show wishes for the end of the world, God accepts this wish with a set condition: the world’s end would proceed over the course of 100 days, and during that time, he is allowed to ‘change his mind’ only once. Oh Duk Hee, a quirky comic artist who specializes in unhappiness, is chosen by God to to make the unhappiest person on Earth happy again. With the pressure of mankind’s destruction riding on her shoulders, will she be able to change his mind before it’s too late?

Next in the Korean web-comic fiesta is Nowhere Boy, which is actually one of the first web-comics I fell for. The story is quite interesting, even more so than from what the summary tells. The art is so vibrant, colorful, and quirky, really befitting the odd, hilarious characters, like the Twelve Disciples that are appointed to Duk Hee. I think my favorite thing about this is how they use a lot of manga/manhwa stereotypes, genres, and aspects as the strategies to get the unhappiest person in the world to be happy again. It creates a lot of hilarious comedy and makes the first couple of chapters pretty silly. However, it gets more intense as the story progresses and you find there’s something much deeper to the unhappiest person’s unhappiness. Another thing I love is the fact that the author makes a not-so serious God who talks through Duk Hee through text and says ‘lol’ after almost every response. You definitely don’t see that kind of interpretation of God in other works (lol).

I think the only problem I have with this is the pacing, which feels quite slow once the disciples are introduced and the strategies start out. The story just seems to drag on and on without getting much information about the unhappiest person. You do start to see little clues, but they were so spaced out among the story I started to feel a little bored with it. As I said earlier though, it’s gotten quite intense from the point I’ve reading at (Chapter 10 I believe is where I left off) and I’m sticking to this. I’m curious to see if Duk Hee and the Twelve Disciples can pull of their task.~

Safe Again Today | Story: Yuh Jin-soo / Artist: Park Sulah

Genre(s):Comedy, Sci-fi, Shoujo, Slice of Life

Status: Complete

Volumes: 2

Year: 2006

Summary: This is a story about aliens. Yes, aliens. Choi Sera houses displaced aliens in her home, where they all pretend to be UFO fanatics in order to explain their eccentricities. Sera’s job is to teach these aliens how to live in human society—not that difficult on the surface, as they ostensibly look like humans (except for the three fingers on each hand thing). They look normal, and they can communicate with earthlings via a translator that looks like a hearing aid, but can they act normal? The answer to that is a resounding no. Watch as Sera tries to school the emotionless twins, Seunghyun and Seungmin (really clones) on dating (with disastrous results), tries to keep Hyunwoo out of trouble, and keep them all from being taken away by the UN alien hunter who’s on to them. And what happens when a translator breaks?! Find out in Safe Again Today!

This was one of the first Korean manhwas I have ever read and for so long I was trying to find it, but I could never remember the title! I was going through Batoto when I finally found it and I just had to throw it in here. Anyway, Safe Again Today is so…CUTE! It has its serious bits, but overall it was so darn adorable, especially the last chapter. I loved Sera’s adventures as a caretaker for aliens and the unique mannerisms of all the alien characters. The concept of a company that helps aliens pass off as humans actually reminds me of Men in Black in a way, but definitely not as extreme. It was interesting concept though and it makes you think if something like this were in fact true, heh. Unfortunately, the manhwa was cut too short for its own good (I suspect it was canceled) so it ends with a lot of loose ends, some of them quite major. The last chapter was nice and oh-so adorable, but I wanted to find out more about certain alien characters, whether a romance ever buds between Sera and another character, and how one of the more serious storylines plays out. *sigh* I still find it worth the read for the silly shenanigans that go on and how Sera manages living with aliens, both young and old. Overall, Safe Again Todayis a very fun and delightful manhwa for all.~

Sasamekikoto (Whispered Words) | Artist: Takahashi Ikeda

Summary: Sasameki Koto is the story of Murasame Sumika, an intelligent and athletically gifted girl who just happens to be in love with her best friend, Kazama Ushio. Unable to confess her feelings, Sumika can only stay by her side and watch over her. After all, the biggest obstacle to her love is something that she can’t change. It has nothing to do with the fact they’re both girls; Sumika just isn’t Kazama’s type! Kazama is only into cute girls and Sumika’s cool personality just doesn’t fit the bill. Much to her friend’s dismay, Kazama is always eager to share news about her latest crush. With the duo’s knack for attracting trouble, it looks like Sumika’s trials have only just begun.

I’ve never really read a shoujo-ai before, and honestly had never even though about it, but coming across Sasamekikoto‘s summary, I thought I’d try it since it really piqued my interest. In the end I’m glad I did because this is just too adorable. The concept sounds typical with the whole “I’m in love with my best friend” thing, but it’s really entertaining. Not to mention I’m a sucker for angst-y love stories like this. The one-shot/first chapter of the series is brilliant! I loved that it wasn’t revealed that Sumika liked Kazuma until the end. Initially I expected (and wanted) the more out-going one, Kazuma, to be the one harboring feelings for Sumika, but I had assumed that she was more shy. The way it works here is totally fine and there are a lot of funny moments, as well as cute ones. I find it incredibly cute when Sumika gets all embarrassed or nervous every time she thinks about Kazuma or tries so hard to be her type.

I think what I like most about this manga though is that I can fee lthe emotions of love and longing from these characters. I have no idea if it’s because of how well their expressions are drawn, the way the scenes/panels are drawn, or the dialogue itself, but I get these real…FEELINGS in my chest that make me think, “Ah, I wish I could have a crush on someone again so I can experience these sort of feelings again.” It’s such a simply story, but so many innocent FEELINGS erupt from this! If I got my hands on the physical manga I’d probably cuddle it seeing as I can’t cuddle the characters for real. My first shoujo-ai manga and I’ve completely fallen in love.~

Summary: Mizutani Shizuku is the type of person who only cares for her own grades. But when she accidentally delivers the lesson notes to Yoshida Haru, Haru becomes convinced they are friends. Haru turns out to have a very innocent personality, but who would’ve thought that Haru would actually confess to Shizuku? A cold-hearted girl x super troublemaker romance with a fresh new perspective.

I’ve always had a soft spot for shoujo manga (I’ll even say that the really cheesy, predictable ones are a guilty pleasure of mine), but of course, I’m always looking for that different shoujo manga that still has that lovely-dovey feel with an added spice. Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun has been my recent find and I’m absolutely loving it. The story may seem typical, but dare I say that the emotions and feelings from the characters are a bit more realistic compared to other shoujo mangas I’ve found! For example, the attraction between the main characters sort of happens instantly, but doesn’t take off instantly as you will see in the first volume. It actually doesn’t anger me, at least so far (and I’m just half-way through Volume 2, I think). I like that we will be able to see this love grow! There are small feelings now, but you can bet it’ll grow into something stronger as the story progress, and personally I’m excited to see that.

As for the characters, I’m loving the cold-hearted, main femal character. Shizuku is actually not too annoyingly cold-hearted either; she’s got the perfect balance. Haru though is the most adorable and innocent person ever despite his ‘scary’ appearance! He’s definitely my favorite type of male characters, heehee. Shizuku and Haru are also quite adorable together seeing as they’re so awkward when left alone! Not to mention they’re complete opposites, and I’m a sucker for opposite couples. Since I’m not very far in the series, I’m curious, as well as worried, about how this will progress. It’s already at 8 volumes, which troubles me as this is a shoujo manga. I’m pretty sure it’ll have its boring moments, but I’m willing to stick by this to see the growing love between Shizuku and Haru, as I said before.~

Summary: 16-year-old Kizuna stalks the city at night, flirting with middle-aged salary men and coercing them out of their money. The thrill should be enough to satiate her, but Kizuna remains unsatisfied with her everyday life… That is, until the beautiful Inoue Yuki, also living in “Birdcage Manor” approaches Kizuna with a job proposition- to model in the nude for Yuki’s cousin, a painter and fellow resident Yusei Asai!

I’ve seen manga scenes of this floating around tumblr a lot, but I never thought to check it out the actual manga until now. I’m intrigued by the story, but I can’t tell (so far from where I’ve been reading) if there’s some specific plot they’re aiming at or it’s just going with the flow. Being a novel originally, I have a feeling that the novel would be better (as it usual is), seeing as the manga version is more shoujo-y and even the translator says that it goes more in-depth with more stories of the other residents in the manor. I do like the shoujo-ness though since the execution of the typical ‘Two boys, one girl, who will she pick?!’ mold is actually not cheesy or incredibly predictable. Plus, the female lead, Kizuna, is pretty headstrong and not so annoying!

To be honest, the story kind of bored me after the first two chapters, where you can start to tell she’s probably going to fall for Asai, but reading the chapter about Asai’s girlfriend actually was the moment I started to particularly like the series. It was wonderfully written and captivated me for some reason, becoming one of the golden moments that reassured my faith that this is a pretty good story. The gorgeous art is definitely distracting me a bit from the little problems in the story. It’s like I HAVE to keep reading because it almost feels like a shame not to admire the beautiful art in this manga. BUT, like I said, the story is quite intriguing with the characters even more so.~

Now last, but certainly not least, is this delightful web-comic that brings instant laughs just as its setting brings instant noodles. I would say this is sort of similar to the 4-koma format without the 4 panel restriction; each chapter is its own quirky story concerning incidents at the convenience store with the three regular employees and their manager. Most of them are quite entertaining and I like catching the Korean pop culture jokes that are occasionally in them. It’s a fun, quick, even kind of relaxing, read for whatever time of day, week, or month. I’m pretty sure you’ll find it very enjoyable, I mean, you gotta have some sort of read to get your mind off of things, right?~

Well, that’s (finally) all from me! I hope you all found some good titles to check out or some new genres of manga to check out. Now excuse me while I prepare for another manga-hunting expedition so I can bring another manga post that hopefully doesn’t take six months to make. Until next time then~!

Okay, I read it. And it was seriously brilliant. Those lines referencing Cinderella (‘when the clock strikes, the carriage turns back into a pumpkin’ or something along those lines) mid-way through were particularly poignant, I thought. They summed the story up beautifully. I don’t think this is a manga that will ever fade from my memories.

~I will always say it: Helter Skelter is a definite must-read, as well as Sasamekikoto. Hahaha, I’ve actually fallen head over heels in love with my first shoujo-ai manga. I’ve even been trying to find more!

They all look so tempting~ *adds them all to list* Definitely starting with Helter Skelter, sounds brilliant! Sleepy Residents will be second, the art looks amazing, sometimes I can be completely superficial when it comes to reading manga. ><

I’ve never read Korean comics before, I’ll have to check some out when I get the chance. Nowhere Boy looks interesting, love the colors.

I’ve never read shoujo-ai before (well, I’ve read manga with hints of it), but never with a focus on it. Plus, the way you described Sasamekikoto made it sound really emotional and I love manga packed with emotion. (´∀｀)

Thanks for the awesome post Hoshi, thanks to you and anaaga I have lots of new stuff to read!~

My heart is beating!! Yes!! Thank goodness you mentioned this. As well as Convenience Store and Nowhere Boy. It’s good to see the manwhas here alongside mangas.
I’m going to have to try out Torikagosou no Kyou mo Nemutai Juunintachi now, gender-bender always interests me. Perhaps because the first anime I really watched was Ouran…
I’m going to try out Sasamekikoto as well. I’ve read some shoujou-ai before although it wasn’t very good, so I’ll see if this can hold me in my chair.

Shoujo-ai isn’t my favorite thing in the whole world, but I’ve had Sasamekikoto on my plan-to-read list for a while because it looks so sweet. I’ll probably go on and begin reading now after hearing someone’s opinion on it who’s I know is trustworthy.

Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun isn’t my favorite manga in the world, but it’s pretty good so far. I especially got excited after hearing about the anime. Especially since Brain’s Base and Kimi ni Todoke’s director is going to be doing it! Now I’m super excited! I swear, not enough shoujo anime gets released. At least, not noteworthy ones. Ah, but I love opposite couples too~ Haru and Shizuku are super adorable!

Read the first couple of chapters of Torikagosou no Kyou mo Nemutai Juunintachi a few months ago and it’s certainly got a unique premise. You would think that something with a premise such as that would be smutty, but it’s actually pretty sweet. I’ll have to pick it up again.

Sasameki Koto~! Ah, the moment I saw Sumika in the picture, a lot of old memories of reading the manga came back to me, a nice shoujo-ai series to read…ah, but now it’s here on Metanorn! Yay! The other mangas definitely are interesting so now I shall proceed to spend my time wisely instead of studying for exams 😀